Vikings stadium faces final, unexpected hurdle

Posted by Mike Florio on August 12, 2013, 11:39 PM EST

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Last week’s civil verdict against Vikings owners Zygi and Mark Wilf initially attracted attention because it flowed from a 21-year-old lawsuit. Ultimately, it could make it harder for the Vikings to escape their 31-year-old home.

Given that the litigation arose from allegedly inappropriate business practices committed by the Wilfs in an unrelated context, Governor Mark Dayton has urged the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Authority to make one final review of the stadium deal, to ensure that no chicanery occurred in the negotiations. And that’s precisely what the MSFA’s board is doing.

“Everybody is on high alert that this is going to be looked at under a fine microscope,” member Duane Benson said, via the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “The governor is not going to, nor are we going to, treat this lightly. A lot of legislators will be watching this very closely, as well we should.”

Technically, the stadium deal isn’t finalized. If a fine-toothed comb reveals issues or potential misrepresentations or other evidence of underhanded business practices, the agreement could potentially implode.

If actual or apparent proof of misconduct appears, it would indeed be proper to ask questions and to resolve any issues that arise. It would be improper, however, for the powers-that-be to use an unrelated lawsuit as cover to squeeze the Wilfs into reconfiguring a bargain about which some politicians may be having remorse.

52 responses to “Vikings stadium faces final, unexpected hurdle”

The deal will be finalized ASAP, with a historic franchise as the Vikings are and how great the state of Minnesota is, this will be our football team forever…plus we don’t sell fake stock to our fans to make it feel like their somewhat important

I still go by Arden Hills Ammo area which could have been the Viking’s Football Mecca. So sad they could have had a massive parking lot for pregame tailgating. Instead Hennipin county did not want to lose the taxes so Viking’s fan have to deal with tailgating in a parking ramps, poor road access in the dead area of the city. However the plus is HCMC hospital is nearby.
Really sad for Viking’s fan what they could have had. I guess a new stadium in a lame area is better than the old homer dome.

Should I be worried that the people that signed off on the deal over a year ago waited until now to look closely at said deal? People make fun of us up here because we elected Ventura as our Governor but you all should really be ripping us for electing this turd Dayton. I’m becoming completely disillusioned with all these politicians in our amazing country.

So long as Vikings fans (falsely) spout off about Packers’ stock being useless pieces of paper, it’s posts like these that prove I have the ultimate trump card. At least our owner isn’t a shady business person who nearly left our city over a lousy stadium. What a snake. Let that sink in, Minnesota: your team almost left you over money.

We sit on aluminum benches at Lambeau and love it. And our recent additions are all fan financed vs taxpayer financed. True, the Packers took public money in the early 00s, but that was based on a public referendum in Brown County that passed, by the way. Can you imagine how the taxpayers would vote in MN?

That’s what happens when the owners are a bunch of immoral crooks. Don’t worry Vikings, Los Angeles will have a nice shiny new stadium for you if you ever want to leave that crappy gas bag you play in now. And great news for Viking fans; you’ll finally have the opportunity to embrace and support a real team, located right next door! We’ll welcome you with open arms.

What is really troublesome is the politicians in this case who awarded a near billion dollar stadium to the Wilfs.

My guess is that they were aware of this lawsuit and thought nothing of it, and now are forced to grandstand. This is much more comforting than the alternative, which is the politicians were grandstanding before approving the stadium, and then didn’t do their due diligence afterwards, and really were caught unaware of this…

Politicians are pathetic. All of them. Doesn’t matter which party you are talking about. Pathetic.

When you look at the bill the Wilfs managed to stick on the taxpayers, this doesn’t surprise me. At least Dayton did his job with such a thorough review of the electronic pulltabs! Kick them all out of the state…

This is nothing but posturing. Electronic pull tabs are not bringing in the cash that they thought would happen. Minnesota politicians are turning the heat up on the Wilfs to squeeze some additional cash out of them.

diehardtwinsfan says:
Aug 13, 2013 10:04 AM
This is nothing but posturing. Electronic pull tabs are not bringing in the cash that they thought would happen. Minnesota politicians are turning the heat up on the Wilfs to squeeze some additional cash out of them.

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*ding ding ding ding ding* we have a winner. That’s ALL this is, and the only reason the e-pull tabs aren’t working is because it was very poorly implemented by the state. Backup funding is already in place and everything will be covered – this will break ground in 2014 as planned, much to the malign of the *wonderful* Pack fanbase that “graces” every Vikings story here.

Making fun of this because the Vikings can’t sell pieces of paper to pay for things like this is absurd – the NFL DOESN’T ALLOW public ownership of teams anymore, so such a funding scheme was never an option to begin with, nor is it for any other team in the league. You best hope the NFL doesn’t renege on that someday, it could happen.

Enough already with the talks of the vikings going to LA,, I read that they are not sending any team to LA from the NFL. and from what I also understand that an old LA team is already going to be there if they do.
So enough packer fans, they are not moving the deal will go thru.

If this deal implodes, the stadium deal is called off and the team moves to L.A., leaving the division……what would all you Pack fans do with your time and “witty” comments you post on here? Back to barn fun and crushing empty PBR cans on your foreheads?

As much as people make fun of Packers fans for buying stock, at least we don’t create a huge tax burden for our community
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On Sept. 12, 2000, Brown County voters by a 53-47 percent margin agreed to tax themselves for the $295 million renovation of Lambeau Field,

This was a 300 million dollar RENOVATION to a pole barn. and yes, the taxpayers paid for it. Know your facts!

That money might be better spent on safety related bridge maintenance, and adequate hydration for their athletes. The peasants in MN just don’t have money for extravagances like sports facilities, or toothpaste.

filthymcnasty1 says:
Aug 13, 2013 8:11 PM
That money might be better spent on safety related bridge maintenance, and adequate hydration for their athletes. The peasants in MN just don’t have money for extravagances like sports facilities, or toothpaste.
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Your bridge comments are out of line and disrespectful to the victims of the tragedy. And the Korey Stringer incident is not a joke for your personal benefit. No one needs to be reminded in such a cavalier manner. Knock it off.

Been a Vikings fan all my life this makes the love boat look like a Sunday social We should not fund stadium and make him rich. The NFL doesn’t owners that are crooks representing the shield Dayton pull your head out of your ass and not allow the stadiumgate scandal to happen

filthymcnasty1 says:
Aug 13, 2013 8:11 PM
That money might be better spent on safety related bridge maintenance, and adequate hydration for their athletes. The peasants in MN just don’t have money for extravagances like sports facilities, or toothpaste.
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What a piece of garbage….making fun of people’s untimely deaths. Packer fans……are you all like this piece of trash?